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Nicholas is playing TACKLE FOOTBALL this year (I know, we're crazy). He's playing for the 3rd/4th grade team at Hope Presbyterian Church (our church doesn't have recreation ministries), and is having a ball.
He worked his way into a starting role, 1st team defensive tackle, pretty quickly. He is now the 1st team outside linebacker, 1st team offense (was right tight end, now left guard), 1st team kick-off, and 1st team kick-return.
Our scrawny little one lacks much in size and strength, but has a nose for the ball and squirts through gaps regularly. His team hasn't won a game yet, but Nicholas has had at least one sack in the first three games (last week, 1 & 1/2). Today, he was moved to linebacker, and had a touchdown-saving hit on a running back. Nicholas referred to it as his "Hard as Granite" hit, which is a promotion at the University of Memphis Football games. Here's a slideshow of photos from the first few games...
It was Karen's turn to experience the Emergency Room at Methodist Germantown Hospital...and she actually beat my record (see "Tales of the ER" in the May posts).
I was in the ER in May for nearly 12 hours; Karen and I checked into the ER Thursday afternoon 9/25 at about 4:30 PM. She had been seen in the clinic that morning for severe abdominal pain and nausea, and was given some meds and sent home. We were to go to the ER if she got much worse...and she did.
It's now 4:15 AM on Friday, 9/26, and she met my record from May, and will easily eclipse it...She will be admitted later this morning (as soon as a room is ready) for fluids and 24 observation. In the past 36 hours, Karen has kept down THREE sips of water...yes, just three. So, she won an overnight stay in the luxurious Methodist tower in Germantown, where she can see nearly the whole city from her window (there's not really a "city" to speak of, though there is a Pier 1 just down the block).
To occupy my time, I learned how to take photographs and manipulate them using Photoshop. Here are two photos taken from our backyard, and I've kept the subject (a pink rose, and a butterfly bush bloom) in color, and changed the background on both to black and white. Pretty fun! Besides, I was out of school work to do, but also very thankful for free wireless in the ER. They think of everything...Before
After
Before
After
Have you ever had older folks tell you to "watch your kids closely, they'll grow up fast!" Well, our baby girl started Kindergarten this fall, and it seems that just yesterday she was coming home from the hospital...
She's a grown up trapped in her little five-year-old body, and she waltzed right in to her class, sat down, and started coloring...no problems! There was hardly a "bye Mom, bye Dad" for us, as we choked back tears...
Enjoy this slide show from Caroline's first day of Kindergarten...
Nicholas is a big-time 3rd grader!
He is now in his 2nd year at C S, in Ms. Clark's Third Grade class. Almost every day, he comes home and says, "Ms. Clark is the most awesome teacher ever!" He's doing really well, and our favorite part is that Ms. Clark won't accept anything less than his "personal best." It's wonderful! Nicholas is very bright, but one of his downfalls is that he works too quickly and doesn't check his work. Because of that, sometimes his handwriting is sloppy, and he loses points. Ms. Clark is quick to point out that he got all the answers right, but his work was not neat, and therefore not his personal best. Beautiful! Our only concern is that she is an Auburn graduate, and has promised to brain-wash the children! Go Dawgs! Sick 'em!
The first day I picked him up after school, he had a very sad look on his face, and I thought to myself, "Great, he's already been to the assistant principal's office for yelling or whatever else...". He gets in the car, says nothing, and I ask, "How was your day?". "Hold on Dad. I'm doing my long term memory exercises." "Your what?" I replied. He then proceeded to tell me, "to convert short term memory to long term memory, you review it every so often, and then right before you go to bed. Then your brain moves it over." "Wow," I said. That was just about all I could say. "Wow." (thanks to Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse)
Here's a slideshow from his first day of school, along with Caroline expressing her displeasure with the moment, specifically with the lack of attention in her direction...
